Clear Float

Author/photographer Joel Austin will share his photography of northern Wisconsin and discuss taconite mining on Wednesday, April 9, in the Lundeen Lecture Hall, 103 Doudna, at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville at 7 p.m.

The lecture, co-sponsored by UW-Platteville’s Students for Peace and Justice and Social and Environmental Justice Program, is open to the public and free of charge.

In his lecture, Austin will share some of his more than 100 images of the Penokee Hills of northern Wisconsin, remnants of a 1.8 billion-year-old mountain range located in the Bad River watershed near Lake Superior.

Austin hopes that these pictures will “spread awareness of this beautiful place that has been so overlooked by Wisconsinites – to show how pristine and intact this ecosystem is.”

He will also discuss the economic, public health and environmental impact that a proposed taconite mine, the largest of its kind in the world, would have on the local communities and on the rivers, forests and wetlands.

Elizabeth Renning, a junior elementary education major with social and environmental justice and early childhood education minors at UW-Platteville from Hartland, Wis., is looking forward to Austin’s presentation. “This issue is extremely important to me because I am a strong advocate of preserving the natural integrity of our beautiful Wisconsin landscape and protecting the diverse ecology that it provides. With the help of Joel Austin, we can inform and educate our community and really make a difference.” Renning is president of UW-Platteville’s student organization, Students for Peace and Justice.

Born and raised in Lancaster, Wis., Austin has spent almost all of his life in Wisconsin. He earned bachelor degrees in biology and fisheries from UW-Stevens Point.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Austin’s book, “Discovering the Penokees,” is used to raise awareness and funds to help protect the Penokee Hills.